Family-Centered Childcare in Fairbanks for over 50 years
Enep’ut began with a simple yet powerful belief that our house is your house. The word Enep’ut comes from the Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabascan) language, meaning “our house,” and it perfectly reflects the center’s mission to provide a warm, family-like environment where every child feels welcome and supported.
Enep’ut Children’s Center is a private, non-profit organization operated by an Administrative Director in conjunction with a Board of Directors and has been operating since 1971. The Board of Directors typically consists of parents whose children attend Enep’ut.
All parents are members of the corporation and are expected to participate in Center activities that benefit Enep’ut and their child’s care.
We are licensed for 45 children ages 2 months to 12 years.
Learning Through Play
We provide flexible programming, organized around small group (age-based) development as well as large group (multi-age) activities. We focus on pre-academic learning to include language and motor development, social and emotional development, and self-help skills through free play, collaborative play, music, art, reading, and outdoor exploration. See “Our Programs” for more information.
Weather permitting, all ages spend as much time as possible outside, recognizing that fresh air, less-structured social time, and opportunities for large muscle development are vital to growing, healthy kids
We have three separate play yards, which allow all children to be outside at the same time. Our property offers a mix of traditional playground equipment and fenced-in natural wooded area. In the summer, most structured activities and free-time play are moved outside. In the winter, outdoor play will only be suspended if temperatures are below thresholds per age group (-20F for ages 5+, -10F for ages 2-5, 0F for ages under 2).